The tv show Home Improvement is beloved by many. Throughout its eight-season run, it always finished in the top 10 most watched shows on ABC. It was a hit with viewers, and its cast and crew loved working on it as well. But why did the show end after such a long run? Patricia Richardson, who played on-screen wife Jill Taylor, recently revealed the reason behind the series ending.
It was the money. Richardson was a megastar after the success of her first major film role, Toy Story, and she wanted to move on. The producers tried to convince her to stay on the show for one more season by offering her more money, but she refused.
Initially, the series started out as a comedy with plenty of jokes and pranks. However, the series began to evolve and became more serious as the seasons went by. In the later seasons, actors were tired of goofy episodes and wanted to work on juicier material, which is why these last few season were filled with substantial plot lines.
One of the most significant changes in season 5 was the arrival of Mark Taylor. The addition of the second generation to the family caused some turmoil for Tim, who struggled with balancing his home life and hosting a popular tv show. This triggered some of the most dramatic scenes in the entire series.
In the seventh season, a very emotional episode aired when Jill was diagnosed with breast cancer. This was a very difficult and heartbreaking episode for viewers, as it made us realize that the tv show wasn’t just about pranks and jokes; it was also a real-life drama with a very real and serious message to share.
The eighth and final season of the tv show was also very emotionally charged as Jonathan Taylor Thomas left the show for his studies in Costa Rica. This was the last time you saw him on television as he never returned to the show in a full-time capacity, only appearing in archived footage. The season was also notable for the death of Wilson, the Taylor’s next door neighbor.
The tv show Home Improvement has become a classic and is still being watched by millions of fans around the world. It was nominated for numerous awards and received a variety of accolades over its years on air. It was so successful that it even ended up in syndication after its initial run, much like Seinfeld and The Simpsons did. In fact, the series ended up running for over a decade, on different networks and platforms including ABC Family, TV Land, Nick at Nite, and more. In 2003, the original cast of the tv show, including Tim Allen, Richard Karn, Casey Sander, and Debbe Dunning reunited for a special called Tim Allen Presents: A User’s Guide to Home Improvement, which included personal reflections from the cast members, outtakes from the final taping and blooper scenes (which included a terminally ill Earl Hindman doing voice overs as Wilson). On May 10, 2011, Walt Disney Studios released a box set containing all 204 episodes of Home Improvement along with special features, including cast interviews, outtakes, and scenes for the final tapeing.